*I am not sure where to put this post exactly so feel free to move it to where ever is appropriate :)

If there is something that I hate the most then it's routine. I hate the fact that I have to wake up every morning, go to school, take a break at 10, come home at 2:30, lunch, homework, computer and school again next morning. And therefor, I've said to myself that I WILL not take a career that involves doing the same thing every single day until the day I die.

I was interested in programming until I found out that a programmer's day to day job is the same old routine, on the computer finding bugs and trying to stay awake.

For about a year now, I've discovered journalism and I love it. My love for journalism started ever since I started my Blog. I never thought of journalism as a career until then.
I was serious about pursuing this career until about a month back when all my family started telling that it's a bad idea. They kept on saying that jobs will be hard to find in Oman (which is true since I want to study ENGLISH journalism), that you work long hours and get payed very low.

Everything they said is true but I don't know... I mean, I can always work in a country other than Oman but then, I also read in a website dedicated to journalism that about 20 out of 100 journalist continue with journalism because it's a very tough job and the others go into education fields and so on (something which I hate).

So, because of all of this, I am now thinking of alternatives. The problem is, I can't think of anything.
Based on what you've read so far, what other careers do you suggest? Maybe you have some tips and ideas of my interest?

Please Help!:help:

You could become a reporter, writer, professor, consultant. Many possibilities. :D

With your Arabic and English speaking abilities you could also become a translator for major corporations in the USA or other English speaking country or a translator for major corporations in the ME.

^marianna, I don't want anything to do with education. I don't like teaching at all, for some reason. Translator, hu? That probably means more in depth study of arabic, something which I don't like very much. Thanks a lot marianna :)

BTW, to also satisfy my parents, they want something with money which journalism doesn't provide very well.

talk show host. then you can earn megabucks. here the journalists major under a big course called 'communications', where they learn journalism but also tv production, magazine production, advertising campaigns etc.
then they specialise in the field they really want.

Also, there is the blossoming tourist trade in Oman which you could look into. Maybe transfer some of your skills into that industry. Real estate etc......tourism...creating your own company in that area.

^Talk show host? That would be amazing but what are the chances of me being able to make it. I mean, from all the people who apply, what are the odds of being chosen? This shouldn't be a primary plan but could be kept as a possibility some day.

Actually, I was thinking of journalism and mass communication which covers all that you said but then again, it has the word journalism in it :p

Great Ideas, Minerva. Thanks a lot :)

marianna,
Wow, I never thought of tourism as a career! So what kind of thing are you thinking of exactly?

I think whatever you do will be routine. Our whole life is a routine. Even if you have a very interesting and a dynamic job, it will still be routine (you have to wake up and go to work -regardless of what you do).

What you could do is make your day more fun. Something to look forward to. Enroll yourself in a group of your interest, get creative, do something different every weekend, go camping, trips around Oman, this will get you busy!

Even if the whole week is routine, at the end of the week you'll be doing something very different.

Maybe something in the media sector would best suit you, Mawaali.

^Endure Whisper,
I know that I'll have to wake up in the morning and do stuff which might be routine. I kinda like morning routines like drinking my coffee and reading the latest updates on the internet but that's not what I was talking about. It's what I do in the job itself which I don't want it to be a routine.

I want a job where I get to meet new people, get creative and develop my skills. These are things that will make me want to get off bed in the morning.

I see how people are so damn depressed in our family because of their boring jobs. No matter how much they try to make up for it on weekends, their jobs are sucking the life out of them.
I don't want to become that.

Thanks for your comment :)

Faith,
May you please give me examples? Because I already thought about what you said :)

In regards to tourism it involves everything you want, writing up brochures, even can create an Omani tourism mag that shows off the country...tie it in with your own tourism website...use your writing skills for this and if you are able to start a company also tie in the mag to it. Tourism is a very people oriented industry. I think the excitement of being able to start up a company in such a virgin field in Oman would be awesome.

It is always good to ask when you are not sure about something….:)

You may still consider programming in combination with another major that will make your work more dynamic.

I do program too but my job is never the same, we deal with different engineering problems, Chemical, Industrial and Mechanical in particular. We try to develop a program that helps solving an engineering problem by simply inputting some information and then retrieving the desired solution.
We get the problem, look at it from an Engineering perspective, and then try to build a mathematical model of the solution and code it in a program.

Math modeling sounds scary I know... but its fun if you consider it seriously and learn how it works... imagine yourself providing people with an equation instead of trying a long experiment to see how things will work...

It is very rewarding, you learn something everyday and every time we solve a major problem we publish the method in a scientific paper that I will add to my CV/résumé. The more you work on this, the more experience you get. You just need to understand how engineering works and how to model the real life problem into numbers…

If didn’t like science, I would do the same thing but in business. They do something similar but instead of optimizing engineering problem, they optimize financial problems. That is something I want to learn in the near future inshallah.

Programming is a very wide field; it can be used as an essential accessory in other fields. So you can still consider it if there is another field that needs programming and it interests you.

That is very interesting marianna. I never thought of that. I might look deeper into it before making a decision although I can tell you from now that my parents won't be happy about it. They are more into what I liked before, computers.

Pygmalion,

Wow! You made programming sound so cool all over again. But dealing with numbers and equations all day long is not something that I look forward too. Not anymore at least. But then again, it is not out of the picture. It is still something that I might consider due to all the pressure put to me by everybody I know!

Thanks a lot for the very very useful information :)

I know in Oman the parents have a huge say over their kids' career. I saw that first hand with my Omani ex and his brothers. I wish you the very best. If you strongly feel this way maybe you could market your idea to your parents. Keep us informed. Love to know! :D

^ That's true although, I have the ultimate say on what I want but you know...

I will surly keep you updated when anything happens. Thanks for all your help, marianna :)

Oman needs Petroleum Engineers ...

Do Petroleum Engineering :p

^ lol, Amjad. I can give you an answer to that directly. I hate that field! :p

What are you studying BTW?

Petroleum Engineering :)

^LOL. No wonder:p I hope I didn't offend you or anything?

No you didn't , why would that offend me .. lol.

Anyways, you're not interested in any engineering major?

If you're interested in Engineering and you get a chance to join SQU, I say take that chance. All the Engineering majors at SQU are great and very strong. Dunno if you'd be interested in Law or not.. but if you do International Law abroad, I guess you'll have a great career at the public sector in the future.

Not much into engineering and law. But great info. I might help someone out with it.

Man to be this young again and the world at your feet! :) Best wishes! :D

Thanks, Marianna :)

Check out advertising, international advertising.
Communications

Try & read about; Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) which can stand for Health & Safety Executive.

We all become lost on what we want at some time of our lives (if not all the time!!) on what we want to do in our lives. Just know that everything happens for a reason & planned out, once you get something you are passionate about & love; just go for it with no hesitations at all.

Yes I agree, it is normal to initially feel lost. One thing for me I always knew I wanted to join the army and then serve in the federal government. Just was not sure how. What you do is find out what your passion is and go for it 1,000%....trust me you will enjoy your quality of life later on when you are in something you throughly enjoy.

Faith,
May you please give me examples? Because I already thought about what you said :)

Journalism, TV or Cinema Editing & Filming or Audio Engineering "there's only one Omani Audio Engineer only! Imagine!" .

Check out advertising, international advertising.
Communications

Try & read about; Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) which can stand for Health & Safety Executive.

We all become lost on what we want at some time of our lives (if not all the time!!) on what we want to do in our lives. Just know that everything happens for a reason & planned out, once you get something you are passionate about & love; just go for it with no hesitations at all.

Advertising sounds like something that I might look into. Not sure about health and safety though. That's why I didn't chose biology at school :p

Thnx for the great advice, spirit :)

Yes I agree, it is normal to initially feel lost. One thing for me I always knew I wanted to join the army and then serve in the federal government. Just was not sure how. What you do is find out what your passion is and go for it 1,000%....trust me you will enjoy your quality of life later on when you are in something you throughly enjoy.

Thnx again, marianna :)

Journalism, TV or Cinema Editing & Filming or Audio Engineering "there's only one Omani Audio Engineer only! Imagine!" .

Only one?! wow.. I didn't know that. Something to think about :)

When I first came across your blog, I thought to myself that this guy will become a famous journalist one day. I liked you aproach and the way you are balanced.

I was intrested in journalisim when I was your age, but due to social restrictions I knew that if I pursued that career I will not reach anywhere. No one stopped me but I killed my dream by putting restrictions on myself.

I say, consider mass communication so you have a wider horizon .. you will not be limited to jounalisim but also to other media related fields. You can also enter the tourisim market by that degree too.

One thing I want to add, a field might not be wanted today, but in the future it would be of a huge demand. Dont think of your current time frame but life long.

since you don't like routine i could suggest public relations , international hospitality management or tourism management , human resources ( especially general hr ) and what you've mentioned also ..

Arabian princess, Thanks for the huuuge compliment. So you are saying that I should go for journalism anyways? humm.. It's a tough decision and I'm not sure what I'll go for. Thanks a lot :)

emo, ok.. seems interesting. I am not too sure about them, to be honest, but it's something to think about. Thanks

Business would be good. You get to be involved in different projects so there's lots of variety plus you travel a lot for meetings and get to meet lots of different people.

if you're going to study abroad at your own expenses, choose a major which is extremely rewarding. I don't think anybody would want to pay over 10,000 rials per year on education and then have an unrewarding job after graduation.

^Amjad, what do you mean by rewarding? Do you mean happiness in what I do or good money? Because this is where I am having trouble choosing.

^Amjad, what do you mean by rewarding? Do you mean happiness in what I do or good money? Because this is where I am having trouble choosing.
Money wise ...